Gavin Brown is closing his solo gallery, and partnering with Barbara Gladstone, the NYT reports. “It’s been a very rapid process,” Brown says. “Barbara is someone I’ve held in esteem for three decades. I remember, vividly, seeing the Matthew Barney show on Greene Street.” (more…)
A trove of paintings, including work by Willem de Kooning and Alexander Calder, have been discovered in the basement of Stony Brook Hospital, The New York Post reports. “It was a great find,” says art consultant Vincent Mazo “It was like opening up King Tut’s tomb.” (more…)
The Frick Collection will reopen at 945 Madison, the Marcel Breuer-designed building formerly serving as the home of the Whitney and Met Breuer. The space, titled Frick Madison, will be used while the Frick undergoes an ambitious renovation. (more…)
Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art reopened Monday, the first cultural institution in Washington to welcome the public back since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The gallery is always a spiritual place, but it’s a spiritual place that’s meant to be filled with people,” says museum director Kaywin Feldman.
A piece in the NYT notes the current re-evaluation of the historical resonance and market of Ruth Asawa, the Japanese-American artist whose pioneering wire sculptures and influential practice at Black Mountain College are receiving a renewed interest. (more…)
Bloomberg charts the ongoing challenges faced by The Shed, as the COVID-19 crisis continues to prevent exhibitions and performances at the fledgling space. “Every department had cuts” says artistic director Alex Poots. “We’re not transforming the Shed into something different; it still needs marketing and programming and production departments. But it needs less of all of those because we’re doing less.” (more…)
As New York enters Phase 4 of its reopening plan, the city is keeping museums shuttered, which officials attribute less to a resurgence than federal negligence in containing the virus. “We are still in a precarious position, not because of anything we have done, but because of the negligence of the federal government, and the states that, frankly, listen to the federal government,” says governor Andrew Cuomo. “I am very worried about the spread that we see across the country, and the inevitability that the spread will be here.”
Keith Sonnier, Dala (2016), via Art Observed
Artist Keith Sonnier, a pioneering voice in the development of light art and an ardent user of neon in complex, multi-layered sculptural arrangements, has died at the age of 78. His studio confirmed the news the week. (more…)
Loic Gouzer, former Christie’s exec and founder of art auction app Fair Warning, is pushing his new platform with a high profile sale of an untitled Basquiat drawing estimated at $8 million. “The idea was to create a guerrilla type of auction system,” Gouzer says of the project, “where you could start moving paintings by using the cloud rather than physical locations.” (more…)
A string of resignations is rocking the SFMOMA, as Gary Garrels, the museum’s senior curator of painting and sculpture marks the latest departure. The departure comes after Garrels reportedly used the term “reverse discrimination” in a meeting, referring to museum policies towards the collection of more works by white male artists. (more…)
As art sales go online, the NYT notes an increasing generation gap, with older buyers tapering off their purchases and younger buyers continuing to collect. “The resistance from older collectors is still there,” says Anders Petterson, founder of analytics firm ArtTactic. “When there is no physical art world, how do you substitute that experience?” he added. “Younger people are a lot quicker to adapt.” (more…)
A piece in the New York Times charts pressure on institutions to address problems of systemic racism and injustice in their organizations, collections and programs, following the social unrest caused by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the police. “I do not think art museums have done enough,” says Chris Anagnos, executive director of the Association of Art Museum Directors. “We have dabbled around the edges of the work, but in our place of privilege we will never live up to the statement that ‘museums are for everyone’ unless we begin to confront, examine and dismantle the various structures that brought us to this point.” (more…)
Art Basel has completely cancelled the 2020 edition of its fair in the Swiss town, after an attempt to move the fair’s dates to September. “While there are signs of hope as individual countries are coming out of lockdown, the global situation remains precarious, and, unfortunately, too many uncertainties remain to go ahead with the fair,” the organization said in a statement. “These include the health risks posed by large gatherings, the limitations on intercontinental travel, and the unclear Swiss regulatory environment for shows of Art Basel’s size. Given these uncertainties, we believe that the best option concerning the Basel show is to focus on next year’s edition and delivering a fair of the exceptional international quality that the artworld expects.” (more…)
Christo at The Floating Piers, June 2016, Photo: Wolfgang Volz
Christo, the Bulgarian artist known for massively scaled environmental works that spread miles of fabric and other materials across natural landmarks and buildings at sites around the globe, has passed away at the age of 84. Working for much of his life alongside his late wife, Jeanne-Claude, who passed away in 2009, the artist’s iconic pieces, like 2005’s The Gates in New York’s Central Park, or his wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, turned modern locales into subtle, surreal echoes of themselves. (more…)
A group of museum directors speak to Art Newspaper this week about their plans to reopen, and how they plan to respond to COVID-19 concerns. The directors detail a range of strategies, from timed entry to controlling flow in and out of galleries. (more…)
Ai Weiwei has created a set of surgical masks to aid coronavirus charities. “It is such a waste. There is so much argument around the mask,” he says of the face mask as a cultural artifact of the era. “A face mask weighs only three grams but it carries so much state argument about global safety and who has it and who doesn’t have it.” (more…)
Collector and dealer Adam Lindemann is suing real estate mogul Aby Rosen to break his lease on the Venus Over Manhattan space at 980 Madison Avenue in New York, asserting he can no longer due business there due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Is it only the tenant’s responsibility when the tenant can’t use the space as intended or may never be able to?” says Errol Margolin, the gallery’s lawyer. “When you have a gallery opening, you have 500 people. If you have social distancing, how can you have 500 people in the future?” (more…)
Workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art are seeking to unionize, Art Newspaper reports. “The PMA serves the people of Philadelphia, and it must emerge from the Covid-19 crisis as a safe, accessible and equitable place where all can engage with the arts,” the group of organizers said. “For this to be possible, working people must have a seat at the table in museum decision-making.” (more…)
The Tate has cancelled the 2020 edition of the Turner Prize, replacing it with a little £100k fund to help support struggling artists during the pandemic.”The practicalities of organizing a Turner Prize exhibition are impossible in the current circumstances, so we have decided to help support even more artists during this exceptionally difficult time,” says Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson. “I think JMW Turner, who once planned to leave his fortune to support artists in their hour of need, would approve of our decision.” (more…)
Museums are beginning to open again in the U.S., with the Museum of Fine Arts Houston leading the way. “It’s good to be out of the house,” says one visitor. “I’ve been looking for something uplifting, something beautiful.” (more…)
Edward Kay, via Rob Tufnell
Making its own entry in the string of fairs and digital viewing sites embaraced by the art world to mitigate some of the damage caused by COVID-19, the New Art Dealers Alliance has launched a new project, the aptly titled FAIR. Spanning several weeks of curated exhibitions from member galleries in New York and further afield, NADA’s new project will look to keep attention and focus on smaller galleries and artists amidst a time where many are suffering from the drop in physical contact and face to face encounters that make up so much of the art world’s business model. Taking place May 20–June 21, 2020, FAIR will directly support 119 NADA Gallery Members and 81 other galleries that have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, totaling nearly 200 galleries around the world. (more…)
The UK has appointed Neil Mendoza as Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal, overseeing the country’s response to the coronavirus’s impact on the arts. Mendoza previously led a review of England’s museums three years ago, offering recommendations on how to further bolster the arts institutions in the country. (more…)
Austrian culture minister Ulrike Lunacek has stepped down after fierce criticism of the government’s arts-sector pandemic response. “This is not worthy of one of the richest countries in the world,” she said of the current state of the country’s artists. (more…)